Asia’s family offices and corporations must step up to replace a cash-strapped UN and fill the SDG funding gap

The United Nations faces a deepening liquidity crisis. Secretary-General António Guterres has warned of an “imminent financial collapse” as the international body confronts $1.6 billion in unpaid dues and billions more in peacekeeping arrears. The UN isn’t about to shut down, but its capacity to operate and coordinate global actions is going to erode.

As the United Nations inevitably trims its support for sustainable development, Asia is going to have to find a replacement source of capital. The answer will have to come from those with money: the region’s wealthy, and its corporations.

Asia’s wealthy families and billionaires can no longer afford to give in isolation. For too long, they have preferred direct, standalone donations that maximize control, but limit impact. Corporate philanthropy has built efficient networks that move capital quickly; family-led giving, on the other hand, is often guided by cultural norms, community affiliations, or business interests, with decisions made in silos rather than shared frameworks.

These traditions have value, but they are limited in tackling complex, system-wide challenges. Fragmented generosity does not close structural financing gaps or drive systemic change. To meet Asia’s urgent development needs, wealthy families and their businesses must pool resources, co-invest in scalable solutions, and build partnerships that deliver measurable, long-term impact for the region.

In parts of Asia, UN-supported programs support health, education, gender equality, climate resilience and disaster response. The UN’s decline may be gradual, but the downstream effects will be immediate. A funding pause will interrupt program delivery, weaken local partners, and fracture coordination mechanisms, like immunization task forces and disaster response networks, used by governments.

It’s not just the UN: Everyone is tightening their belts. Official development assistance may have fallen by as much as 17% last year, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Any pullback in funding threatens to stall progress in Asia, which still faces a $2.5 trillion annual funding gap for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Asia has the money. The Milken Institute noted that the region’s philanthropy expanded significantly over the past three decades. Wealthy Asians are adopting more formal and strategic models, rather than ad hoc giving.

Almost three quarters of family offices based in Asia-Pacific now engage in philanthropy, the highest rate globally, according to a 2024 report from investor services group IQ-EQ. Just a few years earlier, a 2020 survey showed that only about half of Asia-based family foundations had formally integrated philanthropy into their strategies. This is progress, but much of the region’s giving remains fragmented, dominated by standalone grants rather than an integrated, outcome-focused approach that moves the need’s on Asia’s toughest challenges.

If Asi is to offset the steady erosion of the UN’s role, its private capital cannot stay fragmented. Asia’s problem is not the lack of money, but the absence of structures that align private giving.

Family offices, foundations, governments, and companies need to stop acting alone and start pooling their capital to tackle larger problems. Instead of funding small projects in isolation, they should bring their funds together around shared priorities, such as strengthening health systems or building economic resilience, so that financial risks is spread across multiple partners, not borne by a single donor or investor. Fragmented efforts are not enough to close the gaps in financing social and environmental problems.

One practical way forward is blended finance, where philanthropic and public capital absorb the early, higher‑risk stages of a project, reshaping the risk‑return profile so commercial investors, normally wary of such investments, can come in at scale. This is not a theoretical solution: More than 1,100 blended-finance transactions totaling $213 billion show that well-designed catalytic structures can unlock private capital.

The next step is to deploy these capital to high-impact projects across Asia.

We need mechanisms that align priorities, consolidate resources while reinforce, rather than overlap, the roles of governments or multilateral institutions.

New models are already emerging. The Climate Finance Innovation Lab, launched in parntership with Bank Negara Malaysia, pools public and private capital to fund Malaysia’s net-zero transition, including infrastructure for the ASEAN power grid. By aligning private capital with public institutions around shared climate priorities, it demonstrates how coordinated structures can unlock projects that no single funder could access alone.

There are also trusted spaces where funders and governments can align priorities. Collaborative platforms such as the AVPN Global Conference can mobilize funders, support co-creation and drive coordinated capital deployment, while respecting UN core budgets and government responsibilities.

As global public institutions come under pressure, our collective response will determine whether progress is preserved or undone.

Billionaires, family offices and corporations need to step up. They need to commit capital to SDG-focused funds, take up first-loss positions in blended finance vehicles, and partner with governments and public institutions to narrow Asia’s funding gap.

How Asia responds to the UN’s liquidity crisis will test whether its billionaires are prepared to take a leadership role in the region’s futures. Asia has enough resources, and the mechanisms to put them to use. What’s missing is the resolve to meet that challenge.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com